[hackster]

My original username on here was CobraSean. That was probably around 2000 or so I had a pretty clean 60k mile 93 Cobra. I sold it and all of my other toys to buy a house at around 21. Very good decision but a tough one to say the least. I miss that car.

I had a couple other foxbodies after that both coupes, one a 93 with a On3 turbo setup and a Blue 92 that was pretty clean, did a 5 lug conversion and some 03 cobra wheels, mild builds on both though.

I got out of the Mustangs because of the entry costs. Always loved the cars but man they were getting spendy.

I got into some old volvos, then built a handful of bumpside f100's. I do love the build, but a few years ago I got into track days and started running more and more and have had a really enjoyable time. Here are a couple of photos of my last build. Everything on this except the upholstery work and the engine bay paint were done in my small home shop. Its a Gen IV 6.0 with a LSA Supercharger, T56 Narrowed 8.8, 18x10 square on 275's. Its been a riot of a car and I just finished the winter upgrades on it. 2.4 pulley, BTR Stage 2 blower cam, valve springs, trunion bearing upgrade, 102mm Nick Williams Throttle body, CNC Ported snout, new larger radiator, oil cooler and stat. Should be mid 600's at the wheels now.

But like normal I built it up too nice. Its great for Optima events, its been in a couple magazines, was at SEMA last year and I love the car, we have been all over the west coast with it. But for everyday track use and beating up on the autocross course it might be a little too nice...

I had built a pretty cool lifted volvo 940 and a friend of mine was interested in it and had a bit of a basket case 89 notch that had a ton of good stuff with it, but not installed and it had been sitting for 2 years. We made a deal on the cars and I found myself with a pretty good platform to start with for a new project.





Lets make sure my post works and Ill add in more progress!!!

Should be a fun little project.

 

[petmotel]

This may be a Mustang forum, but the Volvo is SWEEEEET! Any build blog on the net for that?

What are the plans for the notch?

Jay

 

[hackster]

This may be a Mustang forum, but the Volvo is SWEEEEET! Any build blog on the net for that?

What are the plans for the notch?

Jay

Thanks Jay, Its been a super fun car. Build thread below.

Hackster's LSA / T56 2 door - Turbobricks Forums

Hackster's LSA / T56 2 door projects & restorations

forums.turbobricks.com

Working on my next post now for some more details on the notch...give me a few

 

[hackster]

So a little background on this thing. Its a bit of a mess but the deal was right.

A friend of mine got the car in a trade deal, he is a total wheeler dealer kind of guy. Its an 89 body with a 91 engine and trans in the car with what is quite possibly the worst repaint I have ever seen and I have seen some ****ty ones =). The car was an ok body, no sunroof, power windows and started life with a 4 cylinder in it. Previous owner did the swap to the V8 and my buddy got it that way.

His plan with the car was a cheap track day car so he got to work ordering up lots and lots of parts for it.

He managed to get an sn95 rearend for it stuffed with 3.73 gears and a rebuild lsd and the ford motorsports diff cover, and converted the rear over to disc. He did get the Maximum Motorsports front coilovers installed and did the sn95 lower control arms and converted to 5 lug with 99 PBR calipers up front.

He tore the rear suspension out of it, ripped out the seats, the carpet and the center console and then ran into some life stuff and the car sat on jack stands in his garage for a few years.....

So I got it with some 03 cobra wheels, a mostly stock drivetrain with an upgraded clutch, no interior and a pile of Maximum Motorsports stuff. He got the lower control arms installed and the driveline in so that we could roll it but sketchy at best to get it on my trailer.

I towed it 200 miles back home to Portland and got to work on it.

The plan for the car is pretty simple, lightweight reliable autocross and track day toy. Its getting the full Maximum Motorsports treatment, some 315's on 18x11 wheels with some Chicane23 flares on the rear and glass fenders up front. For now it will be just the stock 5.0 but long term plans would be some kind of a boosted 4 cylinder. I would like to see the car be somewhere around 2600 lbs and about 350 hp. Would be a very fun setup and I want to try a lighter car with more tire on it. The volvo is a riot but you can tell its not the lightest thing at 3200 lbs.

The killer part about this was that it had an impressive list of parts that came with the car and well thought out. The tires were rubbing and the driveline was all kinds of unhappy with life with no upper links installed it was all we could do to get it into my small home shop.

So the first order of business was to get this thing up on some jack stands and get that rearend sorted out.

I pulled out the MM Coilovers and started to see what needed to happen and in what order.





I got the rearend dropped down to a place I could work on it and tackled the MM adjustable sway bar ends first.

I cleaned up the chassis and got these burned in and painted.



Got the end links installed, the physical bar was already mounted up so that was crossed off the list.

Next up was the MM Panhard bar. Once you figure out what is going on with it the install is not that difficult but it is time consuming and I followed the directions to a T.

The car had some really crappy subframe connectors on it with really poor welds along with the subframes being pretty beat up along with the rockers. So I got the fun task of cutting off the old garbage in prep for the new MM Full length weld on subframe connectors. What a terrible job that was but its done. I got as much done under the car as I could at this point just waiting on the Subframe Connectors to show up. Once they did the install was very straightforward, cleaned up the frame and buzzed them on the car. Pretty impressed with all of the MM stuff at this point

Got the Torque arm setup in the rear and then went about getting the exhaust to clear the axle, all the brackets and the center Torque arm mount.

Here are some pics of the rear setup mostly buttoned up.













Exhaust has been the biggest pain so far, all of the MM stuff went in really well and its very nice stuff. I have never had a car that you could just buy stuff for I am used to engineering and building everything from scratch so this seems like a super easy project so far.

Front is next on the list and some maintenance too.

Sean

 

[petmotel]

Make sure the differential cover clears the trunk sheet metal through full travel, I've seen folks have trouble with those style of covers. I had an MM torque arm and pahard on my track day car before I put an IRS in it. Used an FRPP differential cover as recommended/sold by MM.

Jay

 

[hackster]

Make sure the differential cover clears the trunk sheet metal through full travel, I've seen folks have trouble with those style of covers. I had an MM torque arm and pahard on my track day car before I put an IRS in it. Used an FRPP differential cover as recommended/sold by MM.

Jay

Haha. Funny fact, It will not clear the factory trunk floor . Mine is clearanced for the fins =) Appreciate you looking out for me though.

Sean

 

[triple-s]

How much did you have to modify to fit tail pipes with the panhard bar?

 

[hackster]

How much did you have to modify to fit tail pipes with the panhard bar?

It was a pain. I ended up cutting the tailpipe from the end of the muffler. It was poorly welded and needed fixed anyways so I cut the last 1/8" of the muffler off and ground all the old welds. Then I was able to hang the mid pipe and the mufflers in their places and I could position the tailpipes just to clear the panhard bar mount. Passenger side ended up needing to slip out of the muffler and slide back to clear.

I also made new muffler hangers on the body side and shortened up the hangers on the mufflers to get more clearance over the panhard mount.

I spent a lot of time getting them where they needed to be before I burned in the exhaust. I didnt know going into this little project that the exhaust would require so much work, but in the end it only cost me a little bit of time as I was able to re-use all of the exhaust.

I hear other tailpipes may clear better but they are all going to need adjustment no matter what.

Sean

 

[hackster]

Alright, so we have the rear suspension buttoned up. Keep in mind I have never actually heard this thing run. So for a break from laying on my back on the garage floor I turned to getting this turd running and cooling. 1st attempt and it would not even turn over so I put the medium battery tender on it for a week or so and it came back alive.

The car had the stock radiator and an electric fan just sitting on the radiator. I wanted a better than stock radiator and replacement for the hoses so I ordered up a kit from Late Model Restoration. After ordering I did some reading and the fan that I had was better than the SVE one I had ordered so a mish mash of stuff.

I pulled apart the cooling system and found this.







Glad I ordered the full kit that came with a new stat housing drilled for a temp sender, new stat, all new hoses and clamps. Was an easy install. I flushed the cooling system with 25 or so gallons of water and got it cleaned up. This is a great reminder to never run straight water, always have something in there to keep the corrosion at bay.

Going back together, stat housing, new stat, and temp sender.



These hoses seem like a good product, but seriously I dont need a logo on them anywhere let alone everywhere =)



Little bit of acetone and some red scotch brite pads have them looking much better.



Built a little bracket to hold the fan controller on the side of the battery tray and got that installed and wired up.



I cleaned up the wiring and got the fan installed and wired in, refreshed the battery wiring and cleaned things up in the engine bay. Fired right up!! Got it up to operating temp, burped the system and checked operation of the fan. Worked like a champ. Adjusted the temp up on the fan to about 190 with a 180 degree stat in it. Seems pretty happy. No leaks on the cooling system.



I buttoned up a few little leaks on the engine as well, power steering mainly. It has a leaking rear main in it but wont get to that for a bit.

I did manage to drain all of the fluids and replace everything with WIX XP filters and AMSOIL signature series 10/30 in the engine and their synchromesh in the trans and 75/90 in the rear diff. I have had great luck with their fluids in the past and this old turds going to need it.

Onto the front suspension next.

Sean

 

[petmotel]

Haha. Funny fact, It will not clear the factory trunk floor . Mine is clearanced for the fins =) Appreciate you looking out for me though.

Sean

I'm most of the way through your Turbo Bricks thread, now knowing your marvelous attention to the slightest detail, I should have expected you would not miss such an obvious issue! Whatever direction this build takes, I eagerly anticipate what I'm sure will be a very high quality, as well as likely unique vehicle. The Volvo is truly impressive!

Jay

 

[hackster]

I'm most of the way through your Turbo Bricks thread, now knowing your marvelous attention to the slightest detail, I should have expected you would not miss such an obvious issue! Whatever direction this build takes, I eagerly anticipate what I'm sure will be a very high quality, as well as likely unique vehicle. The Volvo is truly impressive!

Jay

Thanks Jay, I dont plan on it being nearly as nice as the Volvo is but things have snowballed already to we will see where this takes us.....

I found that the drivers seat mounting area was torn up and cracked so I came up with a nifty solution for fixing it.





Then I moved onto round one of front end......



I had some MM SN95 arms that needed to be installed so I tore out the stockers, clearanced the mounts and got them installed.





Buttoned up for now...



Test fit wheels and tires. STEAMROLLERS up front. =)





Should be fun

 

[hackster]

So with that out of the way its time to get chopping.









Process was pretty straight forward, lots of staring, mock up and planning but in the end it went well. Cut off flare, leave inner fender long so I had something to work with, used tin snips to slice the inner so I could get it moved around. I then pushed up the inner and tacked it to the outer sheetmetal, working my way around one small slice at a time fully welding the entire inner to the outer. This created a sealed up inner fender opening and I could seam seal and be confident that I have strength and its weather tight.

Cleaned off all of the old paint so that I was down to bare metal in preparation for the next steps of fitting the flare on there.



First screw was the worst.....rest were easy.





I chose to panel bond the carbon Chicane 23 flares onto the car. I had a few great pointers from some good friends and went after it. Reading the instructions and following them to a T.

I used 3M 8116 Panel Bond, applied direct to Metal after thorough prep and cleaning, the spread out, applied to the backside of the flare and spread out, then a bead 1/4" from the edge of the flare and put the two together, started screwing them at the top and worked my way around, I cleaned off the squish and made it as smooth as possible. I bonded the outer inch of the flare so there is lots of room to sand off.



The next morning it was all cured up.

Pulled the screws and got to work.





I blended the flare to the quarter with a DA and 80 grit to get the taper, then went over that with DTM Evercoat Fiberglass Reinforced filler working my way up from there a little bit at a time blending in and blocking with 36 then 80, then 180.



I got both sides installed and bodyworked, then shot it with Superbuild 4:1. This has been my go to high build for the last several years. I shot 3 coats of this and let it dry.



I blocked out the superbuild with 120, then 180 using foam blocks then hand sanded the tough to reach areas and was pretty happy. I should have gone over it all with 220 on a block or a DA but live and learn.

I shot both quarters with OMNI Black Epoxy primer/sealer and called them done for now.





FAR from perfect but all things considered I am pretty happy. Probably the 2 straightest panels on this old ****box so far =)

Sean

 

[Peter92lx]

Nice job on the flares. I'm in the middle of bonding mine to the car. I got the rears done a week ago and just got the fronts on last night. I still need to blend the flares to the car.

 

[petmotel]

Most of the serious corner carver types prefer the independent rear in spite of the added weight, not to mention the cost. Considering that you've installed a torque arm and Panhard, do you have no interest in an IRS? BTW, I also did the full straight axle mods before installing an IRS recently. The axle, MM torque arm, and panhard currently occupying a corner in the garage. Haven't had the opportunity to run the car in it's current state, but looking forward to it.

The flares look great, you did that quickly! Are you still working?

Jay

 

[hackster]

Nice job on the flares. I'm in the middle of bonding mine to the car. I got the rears done a week ago and just got the fronts on last night. I still need to blend the flares to the car.

Thanks man

To be honest I wish I had done the bonded front flares instead of the full front fenders. Fitting up the aftermarket front fenders has been a nightmare.

Most of the serious corner carver types prefer the independent rear in spite of the added weight, not to mention the cost. Considering that you've installed a torque arm and Panhard, do you have no interest in an IRS? BTW, I also did the full straight axle mods before installing an IRS recently. The axle, MM torque arm, and panhard currently occupying a corner in the garage. Haven't had the opportunity to run the car in it's current state, but looking forward to it.

The flares look great, you did that quickly! Are you still working?

Jay

I bought the car with the torque arm brand new in the box so seemed like a no brainer to me to install it and see how it works. There are some very, very fast cars all over the country that run a torque arm on track. I feel like there is more tuning knowledge out there on solid axle than there is on IRS setups, not to mention bang for the buck. I would do an IRS possibly in the future but for now Ill run this setup.

What made you swap from solid axle to IRS? Were you having issued keeping up on track, settup or dialing it in? Or just wanted to swap it out?

Oh yeah I am still working a bunch just like normal times for my position. I dont really rest or sleep much though so I tend to make good progress for a one man band.
Ill get the thread up to date here in the next few days.

Thanks,

 

[Peter92lx]

Thanks man

To be honest I wish I had done the bonded front flares instead of the full front fenders. Fitting up the aftermarket front fenders has been a nightmare.

I came close to doing the Chicane23 full fenders in the front but I was talked out of it. The forward offset of the control arms and MM k-member causes problems. I had to really open up the front part of the fender to get the 315 to turn in with out hitting. I heard its hard to stretch out the full fenders. The OMNI Black Epoxy primer/sealer what did you use to spray it on the car?

 

[petmotel]

I only did the IRS because Peter did it hehehe!

I need a fairly substantial driver upgrade to be able to get the best out of my car which is more capable than I. The difference between the stock binding prone four link, and the full MM setup is truly eye-opening. In the areas of forward grip, and braking anti-dive, the mods are simply transformative. Having the axle not shifting laterally helps a ton, and of course the articulation of the axle is greatly enhanced.

I know the forward grip will suffer somewhat with the IRS, but I'm pretty sure I will be able to sustain more velocity through the corners with the IRS. My favorite course to track the car is a small, tight track with fairly severe berms in the many tight corners. Live axles do not maintain their control nearly as well when going over the berms as an independant does. The fact that an IRS has initial negative camber, and increases the negative camber under compression is also a distinct advantage.

With no first hand experience I can't say for certain the IRS will lap quicker than the MM equipped live axle, I believe it will.

Jay

 

[hackster]

I came close to doing the Chicane23 full fenders in the front but I was talked out of it. The forward offset of the control arms and MM k-member causes problems. I had to really open up the front part of the fender to get the 315 to turn in with out hitting. I heard its hard to stretch out the full fenders. The OMNI Black Epoxy primer/sealer what did you use to spray it on the car?

Thats interesting, the chicane 23 full fenders are setup around the 1.5" front offset of the aftermarket K member and 3/4" offset front Control Arms. My wheels are centered in the wheelwell with the MM K Member and MM Forward Arms. Ill follow up with pics of how I pushed out the front fenders. I shot the high build and the OMNI with an HVLP Gun. Believe it or not its the nicer of the Harbor Freight HVLP Guns.

20 oz. HVLP Gravity Feed Air Spray Gun

Amazing deals on this 20Oz Hvlp Gravity Feed Air Spray Gun at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

I had good luck with the purple ones for years but this one is much better for this kind of work its no real gun but it works.

I only did the IRS because Peter did it hehehe!

I need a fairly substantial driver upgrade to be able to get the best out of my car which is more capable than I. The difference between the stock binding prone four link, and the full MM setup is truly eye-opening. In the areas of forward grip, and braking anti-dive, the mods are simply transformative. Having the axle not shifting laterally helps a ton, and of course the articulation of the axle is greatly enhanced.

I know the forward grip will suffer somewhat with the IRS, but I'm pretty sure I will be able to sustain more velocity through the corners with the IRS. My favorite course to track the car is a small, tight track with fairly severe berms in the many tight corners. Live axles do not maintain their control nearly as well when going over the berms as an independant does. The fact that an IRS has initial negative camber, and increases the negative camber under compression is also a distinct advantage.

With no first hand experience I can't say for certain the IRS will lap quicker than the MM equipped live axle, I believe it will.

Jay

Great info Jay I agree with all of your summary and can see it making a significant difference on the high curb tracks. I am curious to see how it feels on track compared to the 4 link panhard setup that I have on the Volvo. I am in Portland Or and have a handful of tracks local to me PIR, ORP, The Ridge, Pacific Raceways are my go to. I have been to Thunderhill, Fontana and Vegas as well I can knock down sub 1.30's around PIR with the chicane so I am curious to see if I can better that in the Foxbody. I have heard great things about the TA setup so looking forward to trying it out, its no IRS But I think Ill be able to make it work.

I believe I would see a bigger benefit with ditching the strut frontend and doing an SLA up front than going IRS in the rear but time will tell, currently only bench racing =)

 

[Peter92lx]

Thats interesting, the chicane 23 full fenders are setup around the 1.5" front offset of the aftermarket K member and 3/4" offset front Control Arms. My wheels are centered in the wheelwell with the MM K Member and MM Forward Arms. Ill follow up with pics of how I pushed out the front fenders. I shot the high build and the OMNI with an HVLP Gun. Believe it or not its the nicer of the Harbor Freight HVLP Guns.

20 oz. HVLP Gravity Feed Air Spray Gun

Amazing deals on this 20Oz Hvlp Gravity Feed Air Spray Gun at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

I had good luck with the purple ones for years but this one is much better for this kind of work its no real gun but it works.

That's right the Chicane23 fenders are forward offset. I was thinking of the Maier flares those were the ones I was going to use at first. Definitely post up some pics would love to see how yours turned out. Thanks for the link to the paint gun. I was looking at that one yesterday a friend of mine recommended it also.

 

[petmotel]

With less than half the power of the LS in your Volvo, I'm wondering about how much fun the Coupe will be for you compared to the beastly Volvo (seems weird to describe a Volvo as such!). I understand your eventual goal for a small, lightweight powerplant in a lightweight car, sounds like a solid plan. Do you have a particular powerplant in mind?

Are you actually planning on doing an SLA front suspension? There was a discussion on this forum recently, one of the owners of Agent 47 (used to make an awesome LSA for Mustangs) commented that the he had an MM front suspension on his Cobra and thought it was very good. Although certainly not an LSA, I think the MM front is very good. In conjunction with high rate springs, shocks and struts, it is probably closer to an LSA than most would think. Said high rate springs and dampers are very harsh on the street though.

Jay